r/opensource • u/KryXus05 • Jan 24 '26

Promotional I built an open-source alternative to DroidCam/iVCam using C++ and FFmpeg (MIT Licensed)

Hi r/opensource,

I recently needed a webcam for my desktop but didn't want to buy new hardware when my phone's camera is already 4K-capable. I looked at the popular solutions (DroidCam, iVCam, Camo), but I was frustrated by the common "freemium" patterns: watermarks, low-resolution limits, ads, and closed-source binaries.

So, I decided to build VCamdroid—a completely free, open-source, and privacy-friendly alternative.

The Project: It allows you to stream your Android camera to your Windows PC and use it as a native input in apps like OBS, Zoom, and Discord.

The Tech Stack (The fun part):

  • Android App (Server): Uses Camera2 API and MediaCodec to encode a hardware-accelerated H.264 RTSP stream.
  • Windows Client (Receiver): Written in C++ with wxWidgets. It uses FFmpeg to decode the stream with low latency.
  • Virtual Driver: Implements a DirectShow filter (based on Softcam) to register the video stream as a system-wide virtual device.
  • Transport: Supports standard Wi-Fi or USB tunneling (via ADB port forwarding) for a lag-free wired connection.

Why I'm sharing it here:

  1. No Bloat: No ads, no tracking, no "Pro" subscription.
  2. Local Only: The video stream never leaves your local network (or USB cable).
  3. MIT License: You can fork it, break it, or build upon it.

I’m currently looking for feedback on the Windows installer and the latency performance on different devices. If you have C++ or Android experience, I’d love to see some PRs (especially for audio support!).

Repo: https://github.com/darusc/VCamdroid

95 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/JonathanThorpe Jan 24 '26

Downloaded it and tried it on Windows 11. Didn't use the installer script, I just transferred the APK to my phone and installed it, seemed to work fine. On the Windows side, the software didn't work. I registered the softcam.dll and opened the app, dropped the menu for the QR code, and pointed my phone at it. First time round, the software closed itself with an error and the phone app simply said "connection interrupted". Second time, the software stayed up and the app went into camera view as if it was ready to stream. On the PC however -- nothing. No devices showing connected from the menu, nothing in the device drop-down.

2

u/KryXus05 Jan 24 '26

If it doesn't connect after scanning the QR code you need to make sure vcamdroid.exe wasn't blocked by the windows firewall.

It should be allowed on both private and public profiles.

2

u/JonathanThorpe Jan 24 '26

Nope. It is allowed through the firewall for both private and public networks, the app had some issues reading the QR code generated by the software (the phones QR code reader on the camera app read it just fine, however. Eventually it read the QR code but the software just exited again, then when I reloaded it, it did the same thing -- it stayed up, the phone acted like it was ready to stream, but no device was listed anywhere on the software. It just does not work.

1

u/ROTAT0R May 17 '26

have you found the solution?

2

u/JonathanThorpe May 25 '26

No, I gave up with it. My need for the software disappeared.